Saturday 10th November 2018

Performante on the Nordschleife: Time For Coffee?

Sportauto finally gets its hands on the mega Huracan - can it match that staggering Lamborghini lap?

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Has there been a more controversial Nurburgring lap time than that of the Lamborghini Huracan Performante? Since March 2017, that 6:52.01 has clocked up 2.3m views on YouTube, along with all manner of suspicion around whether the footage was sped up, what tyres were used and just what Lamborghini was playing at. Despite all the praise heaped on the Performante, despite the fact the time has been surpassed by both Lamborghini themselves since then with a different car (and by Porsche), no discussion of the car is complete with a Nurburgring conspiracy theory.

So, time to get it going again. The car has now been tested by sportauto in Germany, with its Nurburgring wizard Christian Gebhardt at the wheel. So like all their videos, this - in theory at least - is a representative press car, comparable with all the other cars lapped, and the same driver in all of them.

The time? Are you sure you want to know? Last chance to scroll to the vid... It's 7:07.99, or 7:08 really. 16 seconds off that original time, and also behind those laps achieved by sportauto in both the 911 GT2 RS (6:58) and GT3 RS (7:05). For additional context they achieved 7:14 in a Corvette Z06, 7:11 in an AMG GT R and 7:28 in a standard Huracan. In fact, sportauto's entire 'Supertest: Nurburgring-Nordschleife' playlist is worth a watch...

Why is there such a discrepancy between Lambo's time and the sportauto one? Tyres seems to be the most logical argument currently put forward, the original car running on a prototype Trofeo R that - it's been suggested - might offer more purchase than the homologated version used here. But it' a point still well up for discussion, no doubt.

Whatever the case, there's no taking away from the fact that 7:08 in anything around the Nordschleife is stupendously quick. As always, Gebhardt's heroic driving is eminently watchable, complemented here by that demonic V10 howl. Slower than originally thought it might well be, but the Huracan Performante is still one heck of a car - and this is one heck of a lap. Enjoy!

 

[Maldini35]

Seems like Lamborghini used a hooky car for their ‘official’ lap - who would have thought!

[anonymous-user]

16 seconds out of 428 (7:08) is just 3.7%

Which is well within normal deviations due to air and track temp, and within "setup" variations (pressures, cambers etc). I'm sure Lambo spent more time optimising their car than SportAuto, and i bet they used a set of tyres that had been carefully scrubbed in, even if they were "standard"

Frankly it's irrelevant anyway, given that the driver is by far the weakest link in any modern supercar, i bet a typical owner/buyer of these cars, who's not a N'ring expert can't even get within 10% of that time, and probably 20% tbh........

[Porsche911R]

He made a lot or errors and forgot to change gear a lot lol
To much bouncing off the limiter along with other errors is why it’s a tad off.
Fast lap all the same but not to the standards these factory drivers seem to do.

[EDLT]

The Porsche times are also slower so clearly they were also cheating, or do they get a free pass?

[Olivera]

Porsche911R said:

He made a lot or errors and forgot to change gear a lot lol
To much bouncing off the limiter along with other errors is why it’s a tad off.
Fast lap all the same but not to the standards these factory drivers seem to do.

The driver won the Nurburgring 24h this year, but perhaps he could be improved with your tuition.

[s2000db]

Anyone got an a English translation of the Auto Sport review pls?
Looks like it got full marks, 100pts!

[993rsr]

Porsche911R said:

He made a lot or errors and forgot to change gear a lot lol
To much bouncing off the limiter along with other errors is why it’s a tad off.
Fast lap all the same but not to the standards these factory drivers seem to do.

How many laps have you done there?

[WojaWabbit]

I just commented on the LT600 vs Pista thread that Ferrari had "qualifying" spec MPS Cup 2Rs that only last eight laps. If Ferrari are at it, everyone will be at it, especially Lambo. And special rubber will just be the start of it.

[RacerMike]

Olivera said:

Porsche911R said:

He made a lot or errors and forgot to change gear a lot lol
To much bouncing off the limiter along with other errors is why it’s a tad off.
Fast lap all the same but not to the standards these factory drivers seem to do.

The driver won the Nurburgring 24h this year, but perhaps he could be improved with your tuition.

[CoolHands]

Who cares. Who cares how fast it went, and who cares if they cheated, fitted slicks or whatever. Totally irrelevant, and trying to make some controversy around it is so boring.

[Taffy66]

s2000db said:

Anyone got an a English translation of the Auto Sport review pls?
Looks like it got full marks, 100pts!

It did indeed and only the third car to do so,,I love the Performante but surprised how much it weighed on Sportautos scales, 1604Kg IIRC.

[Taffy66]

WojaWabbit said:

I just commented on the LT600 vs Pista thread that Ferrari had "qualifying" spec MPS Cup 2Rs that only last eight laps. If Ferrari are at it, everyone will be at it, especially Lambo. And special rubber will just be the start of it.

They're all at it including Porsche..Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS's official factory and Sportautos time were both set on the new R spec Michelins, which are supposedly meant to gain 1s per 1min which knocks off 7secs the Ring time.
What time would a Porsche CGT with these new R spec tyres do around the ring especially with Kevin Estre driving..

[ubbs]

That exhaust/engine sound though.....)

[BVB]

It looks decidedly cool, and slighlty damp conditions in this vid. If Lambo tested in higher track temperatures the time anomaly discussed is pure bunkum.

[isaldiri]

Maldini35 said:

Seems like Lamborghini used a hooky car for their ‘official’ lap - who would have thought!

You can't have been expecting SportAuto to do a lap in the same time as the factory lap? It's a a couple of seconds further off versus the 2rs and 3rs but ultimately the lap is still a stonkingly quick one.

That said, I'm less and less convinced the SportAuto supertest cars are necessarily 'representative' test cars. Porsche I believe had SportAuto use their own record lap cars and this performante has a full roll cage (which explains the weight) when the customer cars aren't even able to have harnesses specced.

[moonigan]

Olivera said:

The driver won the Nurburgring 24h this year, but perhaps he could be improved with your tuition.

Pwned

[993rsr]

Taffy66 said:

They're all at it including Porsche..Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS's official factory and Sportautos time were both set on the new R spec Michelins, which are supposedly meant to gain 1s per 1min which knocks off 7secs the Ring time.
What time would a Porsche CGT with these new R spec tyres do around the ring especially with Kevin Estre driving..

Hope they produce them in CGT sizes to see what the old girl would do, i’d guess it would be nudging under 7 minutes.

[E65Ross]

993rsr said:

Taffy66 said:

They're all at it including Porsche..Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS's official factory and Sportautos time were both set on the new R spec Michelins, which are supposedly meant to gain 1s per 1min which knocks off 7secs the Ring time.
What time would a Porsche CGT with these new R spec tyres do around the ring especially with Kevin Estre driving..

Hope they produce them in CGT sizes to see what the old girl would do, i’d guess it would be nudging under 7 minutes.

It really wouldn't when you think how close the 918 was to 7 mins. I lover the CGT but these things have come in a huge way in 15 years.

[Housey]

Olivera said:

Porsche911R said:

He made a lot or errors and forgot to change gear a lot lol
To much bouncing off the limiter along with other errors is why it’s a tad off.
Fast lap all the same but not to the standards these factory drivers seem to do.

The driver won the Nurburgring 24h this year, but perhaps he could be improved with your tuition.

Yea, he’d have won it in 23 hours

[993rsr]

E65Ross said:

993rsr said:

Taffy66 said:

They're all at it including Porsche..Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS's official factory and Sportautos time were both set on the new R spec Michelins, which are supposedly meant to gain 1s per 1min which knocks off 7secs the Ring time.
What time would a Porsche CGT with these new R spec tyres do around the ring especially with Kevin Estre driving..

Hope they produce them in CGT sizes to see what the old girl would do, i’d guess it would be nudging under 7 minutes.

It really wouldn't when you think how close the 918 was to 7 mins. I lover the CGT but these things have come in a huge way in 15 years.

Having owned mine for 12 years the improvement with subsequent Pilot Super Sport and Pilot Sport Cup 2 on track over the OEM tyres is very, very significant.

Also it’s widely acknowledged the track has got faster over the intervening years.

I may have rose tinted specs to some degree but I would think 20-25 seconds + improvement for the OEM tyres to Cup R and the circuit pace increase is not unrealistic.